TinyMCE and WordPress
In 2003 WordPress was released as a blogging CMS. TinyMCE was the best WYSIWYG HTML editor and allowed bloggers to enter simple posts and images effortlessly. Today WordPress is much more than a blogging platform. WordPress powers 27% of the entire internet, and version 4.6 was downloaded 21.7 million times. It is by far the most popular CMS and has evolved into much more than a blogging platform. Today the use of items such as hero images and parallax blocks give sites a modern look and feel. Today it is all about UI/UX design, user experience will determine the success of your website. Simple words and pictures are no longer sufficient. Non-programmers were no longer able to create and edit advanced design pages and started using page builders to bridge the gap of today’s design requirements.
Gutenberg Replaces TinyMCE
WordPress is going to have a major update with version 5.0. WordPress is replacing TinyMCE with Gutenberg. Gutenberg is a block level WYSIWYG editor. It creates content in small movable blocks. It is currently in the testing stage in the form of a plugin and has a 2.5 out of 5 approval rating. There is already a plugin called Gutenberg Free which will disable Gutenberg and allow users to use the outdated TinyMCE.
I hand code many pages to insure pixel perfect results, so I never use the WordPress WYSIWYG editor. I do use certain page builders for clients that want a modern look and the ability to edit their own pages. That being said I decided to try Gutenberg on a test site so I could evaluate it. Gutenberg is still in the testing stage and many updates and changes will be made before it’s final release. At first glance I noticed a clean interface and decided to give it a test run. You add blocks and elements similar to the way that you would in a page builder. You can easily move blocks or rows. Editing blocks and adding component is easy but certain processes take an additional step or two.
I would suggest to everybody, download the plugin and give it a test drive on a test site. I do not see Gutenberg replacing page builders anytime soon, but it will enhance the way that you edit simple posts and pages.
